Memoirs of a Goldfish

Occasionally, I read a children's book that makes me laugh harder than the kids laugh. Memoirs of a Goldfish is one of those books. Storyteller (journalism, books, music) Devin Scillian and illustrator Tim Bowers knock it out of the park with this humorous, colorful, expressive, striking story of a goldfish who learns that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Written in diary form, a goldfish is our main character and he chronicles his days in his tiny bowl.  At first, all he is able to document is that he spent the day swimming around his bowl.  But by Day 4, he begins to get some company and day by day, his little bowl begins to be filled with new water animals and aquarium decorations until he can't take it any more.  He is tired of being cramped and snapped at and is simultaneously disgusted by the increasing slime build up on the bowl and the fact that there is a creature who enjoys eating that slime.  He wants his bowl back!

Day 13 finds him getting his wish and he is separated from everyone and everything in his old bowl.  Joyfully, he swims around his clean new bowl.  However, he soon begins to wonder about his friends - where are they, don't they need him - and he begins to cry, which is "not easy for a fish to do."

On Day 14, he is dumped into a large, new aquarium where he finds the old gang waiting for him, along with a new friend, a goldfish named Gracie.

Simple plot, right?  The beauty of this story is the voice of the goldfish as he describes each new addition to his bowl - his observations are funny, sweet, and teeny bit sarcastic as he realizes and accepts that he is part of a big family.

You need this book.

Lisette Andreani reads aloud Memoirs of a Goldfish.